Device for the exchange of lances capable of being inserted into metallurgical vessels such as crucibles



Nov. 26, 1968 3,412,989

, 1 'FQPENN DEVICE FOR THE EXCHANGE OF LANCES CAPABLE OF BEING INSERTED INTO METALLURGICAL VESSELS SUCH AS CRUCIBLES Original Filed July 28, 1964 INVENTOR FRANZ PENN BY mdzuwwrm' HIS ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,412,989 DEVICE FOR THE EXCHANGE OF LANCES CA- PABLE OF BEING INSERTED INTO METAL- LURGICAL VESSELS SUCH AS CRUCIBLES Franz Penn, Linz, Austria, assignor to Vereinigte Osterreichische Eisenund Stahlwerke Aktiengesellschaft, Linz, Austria, a company of Austria Continuation of application Ser. No. 385,713, July 28, 1964. This application June 22, 1967, Ser. No. 648,168 Claims priority, application Austria, Aug. 26, 1963, A 6,851/63 3 Claims. (Cl. 266-34) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The device for exchanging lances for insertion into metallurgical vessels disclosed herein includes a crane movable along a track above a metallurgical furnace and being provided with at least one power-driven lance carrier, which is movable on guides on the crane in a direction transverse to the tracks on which the crane is supported, each lance carrier being provided with a pair of lances and means supporting the lances to enable them to be raised and lowered for introduction into and withdrawal from the furnace, the transverse movement of the lance carrier enabling the lances to be moved to a blowing position or a reserve position.

This application is a continuation of US. application Ser. -No. 385,713, filed July 28, 1964, now abandoned.

This invention relates to a device for the exchange of lances capable of being inserted into metallurgical vessels, such as crucibles, in carrying out smelting and refining processes.

Modern top-blowing processes are used in a large field of application. It is possible, for instance, to convert highphosphorus pig iron to steel by feeding lime dust simultaneously with the oxygen, or to blow charges consisting only partly of liquid pig iron, the other part being composed of solid charging materials. For carrying out such processes it is necessary, however, that the lances can be quickly exchanged by substituting, e.g., an oxygen lance for 'a burner lance or an LD lance -for an LD-AC lance. Apart from that, it is necessary for safety reasons that a reserve lance is provided both for the lance in operation and for the inoperative lance and that the replacement is possible during the process in a simple manner and without undue assembling expenditure.

The invention solves this task by a device comprising a lance crane movable in the longitudinal direction of the crucible nave, on which lance crane at least one lance carrier is arranged which is movable in the transverse direction of the crucible nave and carries a number of lances disposed one beside the other, one or several of said lances being in the operating position and one or several being in the reserve (nonoperating) position.

On the lance crane preferably two lance carriers movable in transverse direction of the crucible nave are arranged, each of which carries two lances arranged with such a distance that one is in the blowing position and the other is in the reserve position.

The lance carrier may consist of an angular frame, the horizontal supporting truss of said angular frame being guided by means of rollers on a runner rail arranged on Patented Nov. 26, 1968 the upper side of the lance crane and the vertical lance guiding part of the lance carrier being supported, suitably also by means of rollers, on the supporting structure of the lance crane.

The lifting and lowering means for the lance, such as motor winches and the like, are suitably arranged on the horizontal supporting truss of the lance carrier.

An embodiment of the invention is illustrated in more detail in the drawing. FIG. 1 is a lateral view, FIG. 2 a top view of a blowing device comprising four blowing lances.

In the drawing, numeral 1 designates a lance crane which is movable to and fro in the longitudinal direction of the crucible nave, as indicated by the double arrow B in FIG. 1. The lance crane consists of the transverse girder 2 which is guided by rollers 3 on rails 4, and of the downwardly extending supporting structure 5. Mounted on the transverse girder 2 are runner rails 6 on which the supporting trusses 7 and 8 are put up by means of rollers. The supporting trusses 7 and 8 are rigidly connected to the lance guiding means 9 and 10 and thus form an angular frame. The vertical parts 9, 10 of the angular lance carrier are supported by means of rollers 11 and 12 on runner rails 13 and 14 which are arranged on the supporting structure of the crane. The lance carriers are movable in transverse direction of the crucible nave.

As is evident from FIG. 2, two of the lances 15, 16, 17 and 18 are arranged on each of the lance carriers. Besides, the lance winches 19, 20, 21 and 22 are provided on the horizontal supportingtrusses. For moving the lance carriers the electric shifting apparatus 23 and 24 are provided, which are mounted on the lance crane, on the one hand, and on parts 9 and 10 of the lance carrier, on the other hand.

The procedure of replacing the lances is as follows:

Lance 15, for instance, is a burner lance which is in operation. It is retracted when the smelting step is complete. Then the lance carrier 7 is shifted by the distance A (FIG. 2) in the transverse direction of the crucible nave so that the lance 16, which is a refining lance, comes to lie in the blowing position in the center of the crucible.

Lances 17 and 18 on the second lance carrier 8 are reserve lances, of which lance 17 may be a burner lance and lance 18 may be a refining lance. If the reserve lances are to be employed, the lance crane is moved by the distance B (FIG. 1) in the longitudinal direction of the crucible nave. While the reserve lances are now in operation, the two other lances may be removed and repaired without disturbing the continuous operation of the steel mill.

I claim:

1. A device for exchanging lances adapted to be lifted and lowered centrally into and out of a smelting and refining vessel arranged in an elongated nave, said device comprising a crane track extending lengthwise of said nave above said vessel, a lance crane movable along said track, a pair of lance carriers, guide means mounted on said lance crane supporting said lance carriers for movement substantially horizontally in a direction transversely of said track, a pair of lances mounted on each of said carriers for vertical movement into and out of said vessel, the lances of each pair being spaced from each other by a distance sufficient to position one lance of the pair in a reserve position outside said vessel When the other lance of the pair is in an operating position centrally of said vessel, and means on said crane and carrier for moving each of said lance carriers along said guide means transversely of said track to position said lances selectively in said reserve and operating positions.

2. The device set forth in claim 1 in which each of said lance carriers comprises an angular frame having a horizontal supporting truss and a vertical lance guiding part and cooperating wheels and rails on said lance carrier for said substantially horizontal movement transversely of said track.

3. A device as set forth in claim 2 comprising lifting and lowering means for each lance mounted on said horizontal supporting trusses of said lance carriers.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Fitch 21221 X Farr et al. 29487 Woodruff 212l3 Minty 21213 Obenchain 7560 Obenchain 266-34 10 J. SPENCER OVERHOLSER, Primary Examiner.

E. MAR, Assistant Examiner. 

